By Brant Wilkerson-New
September 16, 2025
Key Takeaways
- Bloom’s Taxonomy organizes learning into six hierarchical levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, with each level building upon the previous one.
- Each level requires different cognitive processes: from basic recall to complex creative analysis.
- Remembering and understanding are the key knowledge bases that support higher-order thinking and complex problem-solving.
- Applying, analyzing, and evaluating help develop critical thinking skills for professional success.
- Creating is the highest level of learning where students generate original ideas, solutions, and products.
- Effective instruction should include all six levels, but not necessarily in sequential order.
- The taxonomy supports learning objectives, assessments, and activities that challenge students to think critically.
- Modern applications extend beyond traditional classrooms to corporate training, online learning, and digital-age educational approaches.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is one of the most influential frameworks in education. It is a structured and organized way to understand how we learn and think. Applied to educational contexts, its learning philosophy supports most instructional models.
The model was developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and later revised in 2001. The taxonomy organizes cognitive skills into six hierarchical levels, from basic recall to creative thinking. It begins with the more fundamental achievements and progresses to more demanding skills once learners have fully grasped the content.
How Bloom’s Taxonomy Works
Bloom’s taxonomy fits nearly all settings, including when an educator designs a curriculum or a trainer develops corporate programs. It provides us with a roadmap for more profound, more meaningful learning experiences that ultimately yield benefits in terms of efficiency, productivity, and self-fulfillment.
The key feature of Bloom’s Taxonomy is how simple and universal it is. It helps educators create learning objectives that challenge students at appropriate levels of difficulty. They can design assessments that measure how well students have understood the curriculum. From then on, the model employs a scaffolding philosophy to build complex thinking skills progressively. What began as an academic tool has evolved into a vital resource for anyone seeking effective learning experiences.
The original taxonomy underwent significant revisions in 2001 by a team led by Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom’s. These revisions refined the levels and changed the terminology from nouns to verbs to reflect a more active learning and engaging learning process. The revised version also moved “creating” to the top of the hierarchy, recognizing it as the most complex cognitive process.
Today, Bloom’s Taxonomy applies to curriculum design across all educational levels, from elementary schools to corporate universities. It is a common language for discussing learning objectives and delivers learning that embraces all cognitive abilities of learners, not just memorization and recall.
What Are the 6 Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy?
The six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy form a pyramid of cognitive complexity. The model starts with basic knowledge recall and progresses to the creative stage. Each level builds upon the previous one, creating a natural progression that mirrors how we develop expertise in any subject.
The hierarchical nature of the taxonomy doesn’t mean that learners must understand each level completely before moving to the next. Instead, it provides a framework for different types of thinking and offers learning experiences that engage multiple cognitive levels.
1. Remembering: The Foundation of Learning
Overview
Remembering sits at the base of Bloom’s pyramid. It involves retrieving relevant knowledge from memory. This level focuses on recognizing, recalling, and reproducing basic facts, terms, and concepts. While sometimes dismissed as “just memorization,” it forms the model’s foundation, being its first building block.
Without remembered knowledge, students can’t analyze, evaluate, or create. Remembering is like a library of knowledge that you visit every time you need to do a complex cognitive task. The most noteworthy part is to remember meaningful activities that connect your expertise to the task at hand. Otherwise, memories don’t have a purpose.
Modern approaches to recall emphasize that the context and relevance of the information are key. Students learn more effectively when they understand why facts matter and how they connect to bigger concepts and ideas. If you’re familiar with béchamel sauce, you can develop new recipes and apply your knowledge to innovative cooking.
Examples in action
In practice, remembering looks like students reciting multiplication tables, medical students memorizing anatomy terms, or employees learning safety procedures. The key verbs associated with this level include define, list, recall, recognize, identify, name, state, and describe.
What does remembering mean? It can be a history student remembering the dates of major Civil War battles, the names of key generals, and the locations of significant events. Or a cooking student recalling the basic ingredients in a bechamel sauce, the proper knife cuts for different vegetables, and food safety temperature guidelines. This knowledge provides students with the foundational information they need to move forward.
Practical remembering activities include flashcards, quizzes, matching exercises, fill-in-the-blank activities, or mnemonic devices. Digital tools, such as spaced repetition apps, can make memorization more efficient and engaging. The goals aren’t mindless repetition for the sake of repetition. Instead, it is about building knowledge that can be applied in subsequent stages to streamline complex and creative thinking.
2. Understanding: Making Meaning
Overview
Understanding is the next step, where learners grasp the meaning of information and can explain concepts in their own words. This level includes interpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, and presenting ideas rather than just repeating them verbatim.
Students demonstrate that their knowledge can be applied to translate information from one form to another. They can predict outcomes based on understanding patterns, explain cause-and-effect relationships, and form connections between different concepts. They demonstrate that they’ve internalized the information and can express it in new ways or apply it to similar situations.
Common action verbs for understanding include explain, summarize, interpret, compare, describe, discuss, paraphrase, translate, and illustrate. These activities require students to mentally process information and demonstrate their understanding of it in their own words.
Assessment techniques include students rewriting complex passages in simpler terms. They can explain processes through analogies or create concept maps and Venn diagrams that show relationships between ideas. They can even describe how concepts apply to their own experiences. These activities reveal whether students truly grasp underlying meanings or are simply memorizing surface-level information. We want students to move past simple recalling.
Part of this process involves recognizing different representations of the same concept. A student who understands fractions can work with them in various forms, including as numbers, pictures, graphs, word problems, or real-world situations, such as recipe measurements or construction projects.
Examples in action
Understanding includes, for example, a biology student explaining photosynthesis using their own analogies, perhaps comparing it to a factory process or a cooking recipe. They might describe how plants “eat” sunlight and carbon dioxide to “cook up” glucose and oxygen. It can also be a marketing professional describing how consumer behavior affects campaign strategies, using real-world examples from their experience to illustrate theoretical concepts.
3. Applying: Putting Knowledge to Work
Overview
Applying means using knowledge in new situations or different contexts. This level connects theoretical knowledge with practical implementation. It requires students to choose the right processes, methods, and techniques to solve new problems.
At this level, learners show their ability to use what they’ve learned in unfamiliar situations. They’re not just following step-by-step instructions but deciding which knowledge to apply and how to apply it effectively. This step combines understanding of concepts with judgment about their appropriate use.
Application often involves problem-solving, where students must understand the type of problem they’re facing, choose the relevant knowledge and procedures, and implement them. This level assesses whether learning has been sufficiently deep to transfer to new contexts.
Practical application activities include case studies with realistic scenarios, simulations that mirror real-world conditions, and problem-solving exercises with multiple possible approaches. These hands-on projects require the practical implementation of concepts and laboratory experiments, where students must select and apply relevant processes.
A successful course presents problems that are similar enough to classroom learning for students to recognize relevant concepts, but different enough that they must think critically about how to apply their knowledge to new circumstances. According to research, this approach allows students to relate new knowledge with their existing understanding and develop more flexible thinking skills.
Examples in action
At this stage, a mathematics student applies algebra formulas to solve real-world engineering problems, such as calculating the load-bearing requirements for a bridge or determining the optimal angles for solar panel installation. They must recognize which mathematical concepts apply to these challenges and implement them correctly.
Another example might be a psychology student applying learning theories to design a behavior modification program for children with attention difficulties. They must be familiar with learning theories, assess the situation, and create an intervention that effectively applies the appropriate principles.
4. Analyzing: Breaking Down Complex Ideas
Overview
Analyzing asks students to break down complex information into parts and understand relationships between elements. This level examines structure, identifies patterns, recognizes assumptions, and distinguishes between facts and opinions.
Students at this level can deconstruct arguments to analyze their logical structure and reasoning. They can compare and contrast different approaches to identify strengths and weaknesses, and then organize the information into categories that reveal patterns and trends. They can also find cause-and-effect relationships in complex scenarios. They learn to differentiate between main ideas and supporting details.
At this point, students must have developed their analytical skills for critical thinking and decision-making in both academic and professional contexts. They move beyond accepting information at face value to examining it and understanding its deeper structure and implications.
Analysis activities include flowcharts that show relationships between concepts and SWOT analyses that examine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. During this stage, students compare different solutions to identify their characteristics and pinpoint the problems and their root causes. They learn to categorize information and outline key components of complex systems.
Practical analysis often requires students to employ various analytical frameworks or models that provide a structure for their examination. These may include cause-and-effect diagrams, comparison matrices, or systematic questioning techniques that help solve a problem systematically.
Examples in action
A literature student may analyze the themes, symbolism, and character development in a novel, examining how different literary elements work together to create meaning. They may analyze how the author uses setting to highlight themes, how character interactions reveal social commentary, or how symbolic elements connect to the story’s deeper messages.
In a business context, a student might analyze market trends to find factors that contribute to a company’s success or failure. Their process could involve analyzing sales data, customer feedback, competitive positioning, economic indicators, and management decisions to identify the elements that have the most significant impact on business performance.
5. Evaluating: Making Informed Judgments
Overview
Evaluating means judging the value, quality, or effectiveness of ideas, methods, or material based on established criteria. This level requires students to develop and apply standards for assessment, critique arguments with logical reasoning, and defend their judgments with evidence and sound logic.
Students demonstrate their evaluation skills by assessing the credibility of sources, judging the effectiveness of different approaches, identifying strengths and weaknesses in arguments or proposals, and making recommendations based on logical arguments. In short, they develop necessary thinking skills.
Evaluation is not the same as simple opinion-giving because it applies criteria and evidence-based reasoning. Students must justify their judgments and explain the standards they’re using to make their assessments. They learn to appraise different options and make judgments based on solid evidence.
Evaluation activities include peer reviews, where students assess each other’s work using established criteria, and critique sessions where students analyze arguments or proposals. They also include decision-making scenarios that require a systematic assessment of options, debates where students must defend their positions with evidence, and recommendation reports that require students to assess alternatives and justify their conclusions. Students learn to consider multiple perspectives and put their findings into comprehensive reports.
Teaching evaluation skills often means helping students develop their criteria for different types of judgments. They learn to apply these criteria consistently and fairly.
Examples in action
A journalism student evaluating the credibility and bias of different news sources will examine factors like author expertise, source transparency, evidence quality, logical consistency, and potential conflicts of interest. They will create criteria for reliable reporting and apply these standards to assess various media outlets.
In a business context, a project manager may evaluate different implementation strategies based on criteria like budget requirements, timeline feasibility, resource availability, risk levels, and expected outcomes. They will assess each option against these criteria and recommend the best approach with supporting evidence.
6. Creating: Generating New Ideas
Overview
Creating is the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, where students generate new ideas, products, or perspectives on things. This level combines elements in new ways, proposes alternative solutions, and produces original, creative, and innovative work.
At this level, students move beyond analyzing existing ideas to generate entirely new concepts. They synthesize knowledge from multiple sources, creatively combine different elements, and come up with something original that didn’t exist before. Creating requires the highest level of cognitive processing because it involves all other levels with the added dimension of originality.
Creating doesn’t necessarily mean producing something completely unprecedented in human history. It means generating something new for the student or their context. Students learn to modify existing ideas, set new parameters, and devise innovative solutions.
Creating activities include research projects where students investigate questions and display original findings. For instance, they may face design challenges that require innovative solutions to real-world problems, as well as creative writing assignments that produce original stories or poems. The creative stage can also include invention tasks where students develop new products or processes, comprehensive projects that integrate learning from multiple sources, and artistic works that express personal vision with technical competence.
There is a delicate balance in the creative stage, as it requires enough structure to guide students, combined with enough freedom for genuine creativity and personal expression. Students need clear expectations about quality and requirements, with the time and space to explore their own ideas and approaches. They learn to plan their creative process and label their innovative elements.
Examples in action
Creativity is when an art student creates an original sculpture that combines multiple techniques learned in class with their personal artistic vision, perhaps integrating traditional clay-working methods with digital design elements to express contemporary themes. The work demonstrates their technical skills as well as their creative application and personal expression.
In a technological context, a software developer might design a new mobile application that solves a problem by using existing technologies in innovative ways. They will draw upon programming knowledge, user interface design principles, and an understanding of user needs to create something that didn’t exist before.
The Interconnected Nature of the Levels
While Bloom’s Taxonomy sets up six distinct levels, real learning rarely proceeds in a perfectly linear fashion. Students often move back and forth between levels and complex learning tasks, working through multiple levels simultaneously. For example, a research project might require aspects from different stages, such as remembering relevant facts, understanding theoretical frameworks, and applying research methods.
Effective instruction recognizes these interconnections and designs learning experiences that integrate multiple levels at the right time. Rather than treating each level as a separate unit, successful educators help students see how different types of thinking work together to form a whole understanding.
Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in Assessment Design
Bloom’s Taxonomy is ideal for assessments that effectively measure different types of learning. Traditional tests often focus heavily on remembering and understanding, but a comprehensive evaluation must engage multiple cognitive levels.
For example, a well-designed exam might include multiple-choice questions that assess both memory and comprehension. These short-answer questions require application and analysis, essay questions that demand evaluation and synthesis, and project components that involve creating original work.
This approach to assessment provides a more comprehensive view of student learning. It challenges students and identifies areas where they require additional support. It also encourages students to develop their cognitive skills rather than focusing solely on memorization. Students learn to calculate results, interpret data, and produce comprehensive solutions.
Digital Age Applications
Despite its age, Bloom’s Taxonomy remains relevant today, albeit with some adaptations. Digital tools can support learning at all levels, from apps that boost memory retention through spaced repetition to platforms that improve collaboration across multimedia projects.
Online learning environments can include interactive simulations for application, data visualization tools for analysis, peer review systems for evaluation, and digital creation tools to produce original work. The challenge is to choose technologies that genuinely support learning objectives rather than adding technology for its own sake.
Social media and collaborative platforms also create new opportunities for students to engage with content at multiple taxonomic levels. Through these platforms, they can share ideas, analyze information collectively, and create collaborative works. Using Bloom’s framework helps educators integrate these technologies in a meaningful way. The challenge is to choose technologies that genuinely support learning objectives rather than adding technology for its own sake.
Common Mistakes When Implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy
Many educators and trainers make some predictable mistakes with Bloom’s Taxonomy in their learning design. Let’s examine these pitfalls to help create more effective educational experiences.
Instructors use the taxonomy too rigidly
One common mistake is treating the taxonomy too rigidly, assuming students must completely master each level before progressing to the next. In reality, the learning process is more fluid, and students benefit most by working across multiple cognitive levels simultaneously. A well-designed lesson may introduce new concepts (remembering), explain their significance (understanding), and immediately provide opportunities for application, all within the same session.
Overemphasis on the lower levels
Another frequent error is overemphasizing lower levels at the expense of higher-order thinking skills. While remembering and understanding are necessary foundations, spending too much time on these levels can leave students unprepared for the complex thinking required in real-world situations. Effective instruction balances all levels based on learning objectives and student needs.
The misunderstood creating level
Some educators also misunderstand the creating level, assuming it requires artistic ability or groundbreaking innovation. Creating, however, can involve any original work that synthesizes learning in new ways, from writing a research report to designing a business proposal or developing a training program.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Across Different Fields
Bloom’s Taxonomy is very adaptable across different educational contexts. In medical education, students learn to recall anatomical structures, comprehend physiological processes, apply diagnostic procedures, analyze patient symptoms, evaluate treatment options, and develop comprehensive care plans.
In business training, employees learn to recall company policies, comprehend market dynamics, apply sales techniques, analyze customer data, assess strategic options, and devise innovative solutions to business challenges.
Engineering students recall mathematical formulas, comprehend physical principles, apply design methodologies, analyze structural requirements, assess safety considerations, and devise innovative engineering solutions to address complex problems.
The taxonomy provides a consistent framework regardless of the specific content being learned. Each field adapts it to its needs while maintaining the underlying cognitive progression and the model’s philosophy.
How to Measure Success at Each Level
How do we measure success in learning? The way to measure it must fit with the cognitive level involved to provide accurate feedback.
For example, remembering is measured using straightforward recall questions, matching exercises, or fill-in-the-blank formats, which focus on accuracy and memory. While traditional multiple-choice tests work well for remembering, though, they are too simplistic for measuring higher-order thinking skills.
The understanding stage can include short-answer questions requiring explanation, concept mapping exercises, or paraphrasing activities. At this stage, the key shifts from repetition to comprehension.
The introduction of problems or scenarios that require students to apply their knowledge allows you to measure their application of said knowledge to a practical setting. Case studies, simulations, and hands-on projects are excellent ways to measure application skills.
Analysis assessments require students to break down complex information and explain the relationships between concepts. Students can perform comparison and contrast exercises, root cause analysis tasks, or examine arguments for logical consistency.
We can measure evaluation by asking students to make judgments based on criteria and defend their conclusions. Peer review activities, critique assignments, and decision-making scenarios work well for this level.
Finally, the creating assessments stage seeks original work where students synthesize knowledge in new and innovative ways. Research projects, design challenges, and creative works measure the highest level of cognitive processing.
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and Modern Applications
The revised taxonomy introduced several key changes that reflect modern understanding of learning. Krathwohl, who worked on the original model, led the revision team that transformed the taxonomy from a static hierarchy to a more dynamic framework.
The revision of Bloom’s original work recognized that learners don’t always progress linearly through levels. Instead, they can work at multiple levels simultaneously, creating more complex and realistic learning outcomes. This taxonomy for learning better reflects how people actually acquire and use knowledge in real-world situations.
Modern educators appreciate how the revised version addresses the cognitive domain more comprehensively. It provides a framework that helps instructors move beyond traditional teaching methods to embrace more engaging approaches. The revision also emphasizes educational goals that prepare students for lifelong learning and professional success.
Practical Implementation Strategies
Successful implementation requires understanding that Bloom’s Taxonomy is a tool, not a rigid prescription. Educators should use it to guide their planning while remaining flexible in their approach.
When designing a curriculum, instructors must consider how each lesson contributes to the overall learning process. They should ask themselves: “What do I want my students to be able to do?” This approach helps ensure that learning objectives align with appropriate assessment methods and instructional strategies.
The taxonomy also helps with sequencing instruction. While students don’t need to master lower levels completely before moving to higher ones, they do need sufficient foundational knowledge to engage meaningfully with more complex tasks.
Fulfilling Learning that Reaches Goals
Bloom’s Taxonomy serves as a foundation for compelling learning experiences that prepare students for real-world challenges.
Instructional designers must understand how to apply this taxonomy to curriculum development and assessment strategy. They must know how to integrate the six levels throughout the learning process to challenge students appropriately and support their growth.
Bloom’s taxonomy applies equally to corporate training programs, educational curricula, and professional development courses. These frameworks create engaging learning programs that move beyond basic information transfer to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative skills. Like scaffolding, the learning experience builds from basic knowledge to advanced application, helping learners develop the necessary skills for success.
Modern learning and development professionals recognize that effective education must address the whole person, not just the learner, by creating experiences that engage students cognitively, emotionally, and socially. Bloom’s Taxonomy provides the cognitive framework, but successful programs also consider motivation, engagement, and real-world application.
Students can achieve remarkable outcomes when instruction is carefully designed around sound pedagogical principles. To maximize the benefits of Bloom’s taxonomy, partner with experienced service providers who understand how to transform educational goals into convincing learning experiences.
Contact us today to discuss your project’s goals, book a complimentary demonstration, and learn how we can assist you! TimelyText is a trusted professional writing and instructional design consulting partner for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
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